Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802–July 17, 1887) (not to be confused with the journalist Dorothy Dix) was a tireless social activist who, from the early 1840s to well after the American Civil War, drew on the most advanced 19th-century ideas about psychiatric treatment to successfully lobby almost every State legislature to create asylums for the insane. Unfortunately for her legacy, these state hospitals grew into enormous "museums of madness" that served as the deserving targets for later reformers' zeal.

See Also

• Kirkbride Plan